We reported on Dockside Green last summer and now the Victoria, BC project is back in the headlines. Dockside is slated to be the world’s first Platinum LEED-certified community, and Synergy, its first phase, has just been listed as one of the AIA Committee on the Environment’s (COTE) top 10 sustainable architecture and green design solutions. The project’s environmental features focus on energy, health, indoor air quality, urban ecology and water conservation. The community is going to treat 100% of its waste water on site and use 45-55% less energy than the Canadian Model National Energy Code.
According to architects Busby Perkins + Will, Synergy, Dockside Green’s first residential phase, is “designed to ensure maximum efficiency, convenience and aesthetic with the smallest possible environmental impact.” Synergy was awarded a Platinum rating by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), surpassing the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center to become the highest-achieving LEED project thus far with a score of 63 out of a possible 70 points. Balance, the Dockside Wharf neighborhood and second residential phase, will house two-bedroom condos and townhouses overlooking the city and harbor.
Overall, Dockside Green will use a 100% fresh air system with heat exchange, a four-pipe fan coil system, low E double-glazed windows, exterior blinds, Energy Star appliances, CFLs and LEDs, occupancy sensors and solar landscape lighting. The project will also provide instant energy use data so that occupants can measure energy and water consumption and program settings to maximize efficiency. (View the complete list of Dockside’s green initiatives here.) The project’s developers, Vancity and Windmill West, are so committed to achieving an overall Platinum rating, they have vowed to pay a one million dollar financial penalty should they fall short.
Most ambitiously, Dockside Green is attempting to be the first carbon neutral development. The proposed central heat plant would use wood-waste biomass to produce a clean gas for heat and domestic hot water, saving residents maintenance costs associated with individual boilers.
It’s hard to imagine a more project more deserving of AIA’s recognition than Dockside Green. We look forward to the developments in this pioneering green building development and will keep you updated as plans move forward.
+Dockside Green
+Busby Perkins + Will
+Vancity
+Windmill West
Via World Architecture News
